Community of Scholars


The 2026 event was February 27 in the Student Union.

Steven Collins presents a Three Minute Thesis at the 2026 Community of Scholars event

Events Schedule

  • Podium Presentations
  • 3MT Round One
  • Lunch and Guest Speakers
  • Poster Presentations
  • 3MT Final Round

Competition Winners 2026

  • Poster Presentation First Place:
    • Jenna DeCata
  • Poster Presentation Second Place:
    • Alysse Weigand
  • Three-Minute Thesis Round One winners:
    • Courtenay Kantanka
    • Gittel Levin
  • Three-Minute Thesis Final Round People's Choice Award:
    • Steven Collins
  • Three-Minute Thesis Final Round Runner Up:
    • Joanne Jung
  • Three-Minute Thesis Final Round Winner - advanced to regional MAGS competition:
    • Steven Collins

2026 Participants

Podium Presentations

  • Harris Hamid
    • Social Justice Through Data: Analyzing Bias in AI Systems
  • Joanne Jung
    • Hope or Hurt? Unpacking the Complex Effects of Hope and Ethnic Identity on Ethnic Discrimination
  • Luke Miller
    • Quantum Weisfeiler-Lehman Methods for Induced Subgraph Isomorphism via Permutation-Free Graph Encodings
  • Priti Rath
    • FTIR-Machine Learning for Accurate Differentiation of OSCC and Benign Biopsies
  • Gracy Rosario
    • Immunomodulatory Effect of Phospholipid Nanoparticles for Treatment of Septic Shock
  • Colby Stevens
    • Hidden Realities: Young Virgil Thomson in Kansas City
  • Sara Trompeter
    • The Creation of Five Deprivation Indices for the Five Healthy People 2030 Domains

Poster Presentations

  • Mohammed Alhashem
    • Zonal Allocation and Sizing of Photovoltaic Powered Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Stations in Large-Scale Distribution Networks
  • Ashley Cole
    • Computational and Experimental Structure-Function Study of Pyrene and Phenanthrene-based PAHs
  • Jenna DeCata
    • Multiple Isoforms of CELF Homolog Bru1 are Required for Indirect Flight Muscle Development in Drosophila
  • Europa Estabrook
    • The Competition Between Basis Set Optimization and Transferability in Local-Orbital Density Functional Theory Calculations
  • Joanne Jung
    • Hope or Hurt? Unpacking the Complex Effects of Hope and Ethnic Identity on Ethnic Discrimination
  • Niharika Kaja
    • Directed Energy: Launching of EM Missile Like Signals
  • Sunita Khatri
    • Large-Scale Machine Learning Simulations of How Wafer Surfaces Evolve Before, During, and After Bonding
  • Jessica Moniz
    • Parenting While Pursuing Degrees: Identifying Barriers and Employing Strategies to Strengthen Undergraduate Student-Parent Success in Higher Education
  • Gracy Rosario
    • Immunomodulatory Effect of Phospholipid Nanoparticles for Treatment of Septic Shock
  • Barsha Saha
    • Integrating Weather Shocks and Environmental Shifts in a Stochastic Eco-Epidemiological Framework of Zoonotic Spillover
  • Sara Trompeter
    • The Creation of Five Deprivation Indices for the Five Healthy People 2030 Domains
  • Alysse Weigand
    • ab initio Calculation of the Infrared Complex Dielectric Function
  • Alice Delali Amehia
    • Emissions Exposure and Cash Taxe Outcomes: Evidence from a Public Company Sample

Three-Minute Thesis

Finalist presentations are linked for applicable participants.

  • Noshaba Bakht
    • The Impact of Mathematics Anxiety and Working Memory on the Pedagogical Choices of Secondary School Teachers: A Mixed Methods Inquiry
  • Steven Collins
    • Shaping Musical Excellence in Students
  • Jenna DeCata
    • Bad Blueprints: Repairing Myotonic Dystrophy
  • Emily Garrett
    • Sins of the Father: The Significance of The Incest Narrative Within Literary Medievalism
  • Harris Hamid
    • Social Justice Through Data: Analyzing Bias in AI Systems
  • Joanne Jung
    • Hope or Hurt? Exploring the Complex Effects of Hope and Ethnic Identity on Ethnic Discrimination
  • Courtenay Kantanka
    • Motherwork: A Poetic Examination of Mothering in the 21st Century
  • Gittel Levin
    • The Biologist's Toolbox: Generating New DNA Tools for Studying Muscle Proteins
  • Theodore Raitzer
    • Incorporating Central Bank Operations into the Monetary Theory of Distribution
  • Ismael Rodriguez
    • Relax...You're Here, Stories
  • Mary Sauer
    • Fiction as an Instrument for Healing Abjection
  • Nafisa Tasnim
    • Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells Using Simple Organic Hole Transport Materials
  • Alex Tretbar
    • Junco: Carceral Time and the Digital Apparatus of Prison
  • Liyah Tucker
    • Comparing Self-Report and Objective Physical Activity in Cognitive and QoL Outcomes for High-BMI Women with MS